Oh dear. It seems that Auntie has done it again. This time it’s the row over Nigel Farage’s bank account, with the Brexiteer revealing at the end of last month that his Coutts account had been closed with ‘no explanation.’ Farage suggested that this was for political reasons but a week later, the BBC offered up a different explanation. Business Editor Simon Jack fired off an eight-tweet thread on 4 July, citing anonymous sources who suggested that Farage had merely fallen ‘below the financial threshold required to hold an account at Coutts.’
Jack grandly claimed that ‘people familiar with the matter’ had rejected the notion that the decision to close his Coutts account was in any way political. He cited one unnamed source as claiming ‘it was for commercial reasons – the criteria for holding a Coutts account are clear from the bank’s website.’ No mention at all that political considerations had played a role in the decision to close Farage’s account. Scores of self-identifying ‘sensibles’ duly swallowed the bank’s spin, hook, line and sinker. Among them was ex-Beeb grandee Jon Sopel, who sneered a fortnight ago that:
You must feel a bit of a Charlie if you’re Nigel Farage, and you claim that it’s all an establishment stitch up that your account’s been closed when it’s just you’re not rich enough for Coutt’s. Am thinking of starting a ‘go fund me’ page for Nige to get him his account back
So it must be to some considerable embarrassment over at the BBC’s headquarters that Farage has now obtained a 36-page document from Coutts via a Subject Access Request, rebutting Jack’s claims. The bank’s wealth reputational risk committee openly discussed in November that they ‘did not think continuing to bank NF was compatible with Coutts given his publicly-stated views that were at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation.’
What was Simon Jack’s response? To blandly tweet out the Coutts’ statement claiming that ‘Our ability to respond is restricted by obligations of client confidentiality.’ Those, er, would be the same obligations that they appear to have breached when they briefed the Beeb that the bank closure was ‘for commercial reasons.’ Sounds like the reputational risk committee could do with some reputational risk management…
The BBC meanwhile has blamed the Financial Times in their most recent article for getting the story wrong – no accountability here guv’nor. They are also yet to issue a correction to their original article which is still headlined ‘Nigel Farage bank account shut for falling below wealth limit.’
One for BBC Verify to investigate perhaps…
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